I'm Thankful For Days Like These

To tell this story sufficiently, I have to discuss something that I really don't want to discuss yet. I'm scared. What if, by talking about it, I jinx it? Oh please, don't let that happen. Oh, I'll just have to say it...my kid is wearing underwear. Underwear, people! UNDERWEAR!!! (Singing) "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the..." Oh, ahem. Too much?

He was showing absolutely no interest in the whole potty training thing, and to be honest I was pretty sick of it myself. So, I decided to forget the whole thing until he turned 3. I told him, "When you turn 3, there's no more diapers. When you're 3, you're a big boy, and big boys don't wear diapers". Very matter of fact. Every time we talked about his birthday, or turning 3, I repeated the same thing. I'm pretty sure he wasn't all that excited about his birthday coming, by the 40th time I repeated my potty mantra.

Well, his party was last Saturday. Sunday morning when he woke up I immediately put on one of the super spiffy pairs of Sesame Street underwear, despite a great deal of protest. Sunday, he peed on the carpet 3 times, BUT he also peed on the potty 3 times. Monday he pooped in his underwear, and peed on the floor 3 times, BUT he also peed on the potty 5 times. Tuesday, I had to work, so my parents had potty duty. Dylan peed on the floor 1 time, BUT he peed on the potty 5 times AND he pooped on the potty for the first time ever. (If you read this post, you knew he would do it for my parents first. Hmph).

Wednesday, I was supposed to take him to school, but I was torn. If he had an accident at school, would he be embarrassed? Would the teachers be willing to take him about every half hour? I decided to keep him home, and that is how the day before Thanksgiving became a day I am very thankful for. Nothing major happened. But, it was a day of perfect, funny, sweet, little boy moments that I need to remember.

*At one point, I saw him bend down to get something, then put it in his mouth. I said, in my exasperated mommy voice, "DYLAN! You don't eat stuff off the floor!", and he answered in his exasperated Dylan voice, "MOMMY! It wasn't on the floor. It was on the bottom of my foot!" You gotta love that logic.

*He got his first computer as a birthday present, and we opened it Wednesday. We were playing in the family room. Then, he got up and went in the living room. After a while, I found him, sitting in the exact place on the couch that I sit to work on the computer. The irony was not lost on me, when I exclaimed, "Dylan, get off the computer, and come play with me!"


*Playing one of his new favorite games... Dylan sandwich...

*He had been in the house since Sunday, so I ever so bravely asked if he wanted to go to Target to buy a birthday present for the party we're going to tomorrow. I told him since he was doing so well on the potty, we could share a pretzel at Target. As we sat next to each other, sharing a pretzel, I asked him, "What do you want to talk about?" "Me!", he answered. (What else?!) "Well, what do you want to say about yourself?", I asked. He smiled, and replied, "Well... I'm 3 now, and I'm a Big Boy!"

*After we went to Target, we went to Borders, where he peed on the potty in public for the first time. The look of pride on his face as he did it? Priceless.

*Sitting with my two guys, having dinner at Eat N Park, and thinking how lucky I am.

*I gave Dylan a hug goodnight, and walked out of his room, so Jim could put him to bed. He ran after me, saying, "Mommy, don't forget!" I stopped and turned to ask, "What?" "I peed on the potty at Borders!" And now, thanks to this post, my sweet boy, I won't. By the way, did I mention my kid is in UNDERWEAR? Can I get a WOOT! WOOT! Cartwheels? A parade? Too much?

Thankful

Pictures sometimes do speak louder than words...


(Peasants in New Delhi bathe and wash their clothes in a stream polluted with raw sewage and methane gas).I am thankful for clean water to drink, bathe in, and wash my clothes in.



I am thankful that when I am hungry, I can just go to my refrigerator, or to the grocery store.





I am thankful for my home.




Green Forest Orphanage (Home to over 130 children Infants- Age 7)
I am thankful for my family.




I am thankful for my good health, and that of my family.

We all have so much to be thankful for. I'm thankful that all of you continue to take the time out of your busy days to come and visit my blog. Happy Thanksgiving!

Party In Da House

Dylan's birthday party was at our house on Saturday. Having a party at our house was never really an option at the old house, since it was so small, and the parking options were nonexistent. A few months ago, I was at a friend's house, and she said, "You're going to have Dylan's party at your house this year, aren't you?" "Ummm...I don't know...", I answered. Later, I asked Jim, "Should we have the party at our house this time?". His answer was yes, and that was that. (Note to self: Do not ask the person who will only do 5% of the work. Ask the person who will do 95% of the work what she wants).

Last Monday, on my way to work, I had a panic attack, thinking about 33 people in my house. The noise, the chaos, the 12 kids screaming, the mess - I was envisioning the worst. Tuesday on my way to work I was thinking about calling everyone on the party list and telling them we were moving the party to Chuck E Cheese. But, something happened on my way home from work on Tuesday. I had this thought... "No matter how bad it is, it will only be a few hours of my life, so I should probably just enjoy it".

And, you know what? I did enjoy it, and more importantly Dylan enjoyed it.

It ended up only being 24 people, due to all the illness going around. Dylan loves Sesame Street, so it was an Elmo theme. The kids played "Pin the Nose on Elmo", and we discovered that Dylan does NOT like to be blind folded. "NO! NO! I CAN'T SEE!!" His favorite part of the party was the Musical Chairs inspired game we played where instead of chairs I used pictures of Elmo on the floor. When the music stopped I would call out a color, and they would turn the pictures over to see if they had that color, and if they did, they would win a prize.

One of the funniest parts for me was Dylan and his buddy Caleb sitting at the table for about 15 minutes, patiently waiting for the ice cream cake, which was rock hard and needed to thaw. (If I ever need him to be still, I'll just need to pull out some cake).
** (If you ever get an ice cream cake, allow 15-20 minutes for it to thaw. Also, avoid blue icing if at all possible. It does NOT wash out easily). **

About 1/2 hour after the cake, the kids were running circles(literally) through the house, and the silliness factor increased exponentially, but even then, things were way better than I expected. As with all of our parties, we have WAY too much food left over, and the party went on WAY longer than I thought it would, but it's over and what do you know? I survived.







(I would show more party pictures, but I don't want to have to get permission from everyone involved. I would love to show you the video of the kids running circles through the rooms, or of my kid ripping through the presents like a maniac, but you remember my Halloween video I posted? In November? Um, yea.)

My Boy is Three

Dear Dylan,

Here I am writing your birthday letter. Where does the time go? This has been such a fun year. I really wouldn't say that TWO was "terrible" at all. I thought it was pretty terrific. You have learned so much this year. Your mind never ceases to amaze me, and to be honest it does frighten me a bit. I feel that I have to make the right choices for you, so you can reach your full potential. You are so smart, and creative, and independent, and I don't want anyone to hinder those traits in any way.

You are still very interested in numbers and letters. You can do some addition and subtraction, and you can make the sound for each letter, and tell us several things that start with each letter. I don't think that means you are sounding out words yet, I think you have just memorized things that start with each letter. Your memory is what astounds me the most. You often repeat things I said days or even weeks ago. You can memorize books and often if I pause at the end of a line, you'll surprise me by saying the last few words.

You are probably bored at school, while they discuss one color and number for a whole month! The reason I wanted you to go to preschool, though, is to learn to be a good friend. You are used to playing things your way, and you need to let others take the lead sometimes. You are starting to talk about the other kids now, especially "Will", who I hear also talks about you at home.

Today, you and Will both brought in a birthday snack since your birthdays are so close. Tonight we went to Chick Fil A for dinner, then came home and played with a few of your birthday presents. Your favorite was the guitar Mi-Mi and Bubba got for you.

You love music, and you are always singing. You come home singing all the songs you've learned at school, and lately you stand up on your stool and "put on a show" for your daddy and I.

Dylan, you have so much energy and your body (and your mouth) never stop moving. It is definitely exhausting, but I love it at the same time. At a birthday party we went to recently, all the adults were sitting in one room watching a Steeler game. You walked over and stood right in front of each person, until they finally looked at you, and then you smiled at them and said "Hi!". You waited until they said "Hi!", then went on to the next person, and you made each person do it. I think that pretty much sums up your personality. You are engaging and friendly, and you make an impression on people wherever you go.

I'm proud of you, and the little person that you are, and I can't wait to see what you'll start doing next.

I Love You,
Mommy

He's All Hands, But I Don't Care

We were very busy this weekend. Saturday we went to an indoor play area for a birthday party. Besides the kids in our party, there had to be about 5 other parties going on in the place. It was CRAZY. It was LOUD. It was FUN.

Believe it or not, after that we went to the farm. It was in the 70's, and we decided we just couldn't waste a day like that.

Yesterday was a day to run errands. We went to two different Target's, looking for a particular birthday present for Dylan, only to find both stores were out of them. We also went to Dairy Queen to order Dylan's cake for his party, to Lenscrafters for them to fix my bent glasses (guess who did that?), and out for dinner. Dinner was definitely my favorite part of the weekend, despite the fact that we waited over 1/2 hour for our food with a squirmy toddler!

Usually, I make Jim sit next to Dylan at restaurants. I figured it was only fair. I have to supervise all the other meals, so I deserve to "relax" when we go out. Jim usually spends the time complaining about Dylan's grimy hands continously finding their way to Jim's shirt, and I secretly(or possibly not) enjoy watching.

For some reason, yesterday I sat next to Dylan. I had no idea what I was missing! My normally unaffectionate child held my hand, snuggled up to me numerous times, and at one point wrapped his arms around my neck and exclaimed, "Oh Mommy! You're so cute!"

I'm so cute?! From now on, my clothes will all be stained, but I sure will be happy.

Halloween in November

I have this problem. Well, at times it is a problem. If I am going to decorate for a holiday I like to do it early so I can enjoy the decorations. Once the holiday is over, however, it is over. The decorations need to be taken down the next day. It is now on to the next thing. (This could explain why I am a year behind on my digital scrapbooks).

The problem is this...

Halloween is over. It has been over for weeks. The decorations have been down since the day after. But, I didn't finish my Halloween video until today. Why? Because I do the pictures in this family. My husband does the video. That is our role (as far as I'm concerned, at least). Coordinating my time to upload pictures and his time to upload video proved to be... problematic.
So, here I am posting about Halloween on Veterans Day. This fact makes me twitchy, but if I don't do it now, it will never happen.

As you will see in the video, we are into Halloween in this family. Dylan is following right along in our footsteps, and wanted to hit every single house in our neighborhood. "Dylan, we are going to skip this house". "BUT, NO! THEIR LIGHT IS ON!!!" One highlight was Dylan (who was completely obsessed with gathering as much candy as possible) seeing a pumpkin that another kid was carrying, and going to grab candy out of his bag! He was a little too focused on the task, I would say. The other highlight was me getting a cramp in my foot from my darn boots, and hobbling along, trying not to swear in front of costumed children. Dylan would NOT wait for me, so Jim had to rush after him, while I tried not to look too strange, hobbling along almost in tears, with no children near me. (Nope, didn't get that in the video. Sorry). I would just like to say that we only spent $12 total on all 3 costumes! We needed to buy bandanas, and we got Dylan's costume used. Believe it or not, I've had that puffy shirt taking up space in the back of my closet since the 80's! Who knows what Jim's excuse is? Happy Halloween Everyone!! (groan)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Maze of Tubes

Dear Dylan,

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day, with temperatures in the 60's! You were so excited when I said we were going to the zoo.
We had a great time, but something that happened at the zoo stayed with me all evening.

You were having fun, playing in the playground area, while your daddy and I sat on a bench watching you. You went through the maze of tubes several times, smiling each time you came out, and exclaiming "I did it!".

You went in again, and we suddenly saw your head poking out in the middle of the tubes. I snapped a picture, and then noticed your slightly panicked expression. You started to cry, and I went over to see what was going on. "I can't come out!", you wailed. I tried to talk you through it from the ground, but you were distraught. You just stood there sobbing, and looking pitiful, saying "I can't!"

Oh, Dylan, I have been in that situation many times, and I had a similar reaction. I have a horrible sense of direction, and I hate being lost. My heart hurt watching you. I kept yelling up to you, "You CAN do it, Dylan!" Your daddy and I were both thinking we were going to have to somehow cram ourselves into those tunnels, and make our way up to you, to bring you out, risking throwing our backs out in the process.

Suddenly, an older boy came over, and told you he could help you find your way out. You just kept sobbing, but he stuck with you, and saw to it that you made it out. I wanted to hug that kid, but I just thanked him when he came out with you.

I've been thinking about that all day, Dylan. There are going to be so many times in your life that you are lost, or upset, and I won't be there. I won't be able to help you. I won't even know that you need help. I just hope that as you grow up, you will let me know when you do need my help. I pray that those times when I'm not there and can't help, that you will hear my voice in your head saying "You CAN do it, Dylan. You CAN".

Love,
Mommy

If I Wrote Romance Novels

...Rays of afternoon sun streamed through the window above the sink, where she stood rinsing dishes. On the outside, she looked cool, calm, and beautiful. On the inside, her mind was racing, thinking of the millions of things she wished she could get done before her son awoke from his nap.

She heard her husband's footsteps as he entered the room, but didn't turn around. She had too much to do. Suddenly, though, he was standing behind her, and he reached out to push a stray hair behind her ear. His hand brushed ever so gently across her cheek as he did it, sending a warmth through her face.

He wrapped his strong arms around her lithe waist. She felt his warm breath on her neck as he asked, "How was your day?" "Stressful!", she exclaimed, continuing to rinse the dishes. "I have so much..." Her voice trailed off as her husband started leaving a trail of soft kisses down the side of her neck. Oh, for crying out loud, she thought. Can't he see that I'm busy? Why did he ask about my day if he wasn't going to listen?" Mmm, the kisses are nice, though.

"What was I saying?", she remarked, turning to face him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, his hands under her shirt, resting on the small of her back. He leaned in to whisper huskily into her ear, "You said you were stressed, and have a lot to do. I noticed earlier that you seemed to have a lot to do today, so... I went grocery shopping and cleaned the bathroom". "OH", she moaned, a fire suddenly ablaze between her legs. She tore the fabric of her pants, in her impassioned haste to remove them...